Radio-active mass.



s. LOEWENTHAL &- K. LUER.

RADIO ACTIVE MASS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29,1908.

907,066. Patented Dec. 15, 1908.

era s lean carr es.

SIEGFRIED LOEWENTHAL, or BRA'UNSCHWEIG, AND KURT L 'UER, or(HARLOTTENBURG GERMANY, ASSIGNORS TO .THE FIRM OF RADIOGEN GESELLSCIIAFTMIT BESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG, OI" CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

RADIO-ACTIVE MASS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 15, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SIEGFRIED LOEw-.

ENTHAL, citizen of the German Empire, and resident of Braunschweig,Germany, physician, and KURT LUER, citizen of the German Empire, andresident of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, Germany, apothecary, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Radio-Active Masses, ofwhich the following is a specification.

According to this invention, radio-active substances are used in theform of masses in solid aggregate state and consisting of neutralmaterial permeable to emanations, with radio-active substanceincorporated into and distributed through the same.

For the neutral solid bodies containing radio-active substances poroussubstances permeable toernanations are chiefly'used, such as forinstance kieselguhr or fossil meal, in the. shape of pieces, orin astate of more or less fine division, while the radio active substanceincorporated int-o the said solid bodies, can consist both of insolubleand soluble salts of radium, such as for instance radium bariumcarbonate, or radium chlorid or radium bromid or even radium ores. Themanufacture of such radioactive masses of high activity, is preferablyeffected in such manner that the radioactive substances available (ores,insoluble' or soluble salts of radium) are finely ground, and mixed withthe neutral substances, preferably fossil meal, permeable to theemanations. In this way the radio active raw materials are opened up orseparated, which results in a considerable increase of theradio-activity, radio-activity being proportional to the surface of suchmaterial. After the radio-active substances have-been finely ground inmixture with neutral substances, the pulverulent mass can be compressedinto any desired shape.

Owing to the incorporation of the radioactive substances into neutralmaterial permeable to emanations by grinding, the solid bodies to beproduced from the said mass are of comparatively small mechanicalstrength, as the well-known ways ofstrengthening or solidifying ingmeans or by sintering together cannot be used, since, by such treatmentthe radioactivity of the material would be reduced. In order tocompensate for this lack of by the addition ofbind- I l i l l l l l l Il l l I l prevented in an eflicacious manner.

strength, it is advisable to inclosethe mass obtained by the grinding ofradio-active substances and neutral material, in reservoirs of porousmaterial permeable to emanations, for instance kieselguhr. In that Way,

without considerably reducing the radio-- active power, loss ofradio-active mass is The so-called Berkefeld filter candles or tubularfilters, have proved specially suitable for being used askieselguhr-reservoirs.

The radio-active solid bodies according to this invention, whetherinclosed in a casing of porous material (kieselguhr) ermea'ble toemanations or not, are preferali inside a casing comparativelyimpermeable to emanations, forinstance of celluloid, vulcanized rubber,"or even metal, and for the purpose of expellingthe emanations in aspace which is to be enriched therewith, are exposed to a heating or toa moist atmosphere, or if desired to a combination of both. The storingor keeping of radioactive substances in a casing impermeable toemanations has for its object to prevent the emanations from being lostWithout any use being made of them, in case the radi0- active substancesare accidentally exposed to the action of moistair or heat. Byradioactive substance, is understoodthroughout the specification andclaims, generally every substance containing one of the radio' Theformation of shaped masses by the in-- corporation of radio-activesubstance into a neutralmaterial which, however, is per meable toemanations, facilitates the use of radium preparation in as far asthomass can be dctaehably introduced into a casing impermeable toelnanations without it being necessary to use large quantities of.radio.- active substance, and it can be removed from the saidimpermeable easing as required.

.ltadio-active preparations according to this invention are moreparticularly suitable for enriching liquids with emanations such liquidsbeing preferably used for medical purposes. To that end, theradio-active mass is inclosed in a body permeable to emanations,preferably kieselguhr, and the latter is arranged in front of theoutletof a vessel in such manner that liquid introduced into the vessel,when being taken out, must pass ly stored through the porous bodyinclosing the radioactive substance. A construction this invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawin in which I Figure 1 is a cutelevation, partly in section, it being assumed that the radio-activesubstance is arranged between two bellpipe 6 way cock 17 arranged in t1e 7 16 sinks, from its closing position, can enter the pipette from thetop,

' tions is marked 1..

the parts are in the shaped elements made of kieselguhr. is a section onthe line 22 of Fig. 1. shows a modified construction of a detail inwhich a cartridge of a radioactive substance isarranged in a recess in akieselguhr bell.

The reservoir intended to receive the liquid to be enriched with radiumemana- It is provided at the top with an inlet branch 2 to which isscrewed a supply pipe 3 by means of a nut or union 4. At lts lower end,he reservoir 1 is provided with an opening 5 through which projects asecured to a tray or late 7 in the interior ot the reservoir 1, an.outletpjpe 8 by means of a union 9. A packing'ri-rig 10 is arrangedround the pi e 6 and pressed against the tray 7 so that tl ie liquidcannot ss from'the interior of the reservoir 1, to the opening 5. Twokieselguhr bells 11 and 12, one within the other, are cemented to thetray 7 and leave between them a narrow intermediate space 13 which isfilled with radio-active substance. 14 is a pipette cemented to a cockcasing 15 which at the same time is connected to the outlet pi e 8 ofthe reservoir '1. A float 16 is arrange above the measuring space of thepi )ette 14. A threecook casing 15 is provided with a handle 18. On thecock spindle is mounted atoothed wheel 19 projecting into the casing 20of a counting mechanism and operating the same.

The use and the working of the apparatus described are as follows: Thekieselguhr bells 11, 12 with the intermediate layer of radio-activesubstance are introduced into the reservoir 1, after the removal of theupper cover of the same, so that the pipe branch 6 of the supportingplate or tray 7 projects through the bottom opening 5 of the reservoir.The outlet pipe 8 is then connected by means of the nut 9 to the pipebranch 6, and the cover of the reservoir 1 is replaced so that ositionshown in Figs. 1 erably water, is then adand 2. Liquid, pre

'mitted into the reservoir 1 through the inlet pipe 3, and the saidliquid exposed for a given time to the action of the radiq-activesubstances. As soon as desired extent with radium emanations, the liquidis discharged through the bell shaped elements by turning the cook .17-in such manner that the pipette 14 is discharged through the outletbranch of the cock casing. The float pipette is completely emptied.

of a device according to in Fig. 2 liquid is thereupon discharge Fig. 3-way as before.

I ber of pipette contents can be discharged mitting it has been enrichedto'a so that air porated radio-active and the arranged in The cock is 1opening in such a manner that the block bars every day, this numberbeing indicated by counting mechanism, and the liquid discharged fromthe reservoir 1 replaced by adr'resh liquid through the inlet pipe 3.When then next day thesame amount is discharged, there will be aguarantee that the li uid discharged is charged in thesame way withemanations of radium, as 'a reduction of bells 11 and 12 takes placeonly in the course of long periods of time. The whole liquid dischargedfrom'the tanks must pass through the kieselguhr bells 1,1 and 12 andtherefore at the same time active mass before: it reaches the outlet.

The modification of the device shown in Fig. 3 consists chiefly in .thefact that instead of two kieselguhr bells 11 and 12 there is providedonly one its recess 1 3 a cartridge or charge 21 of radio-activesubstance.

We claim:

"1. A radio-active substantially of kieselguhr containing incorporatedradio-active substances.

2.. A radio-active mass having the form of an arbitrarily shaped, solidblock consisting substantially of lii-eselguhr containing incorporatedradio-active substances.

3. A radio-active mass having the form of an arbitrarily shaped, solidblocbconsisting oi kieselguhr containing incor orat-ed radio' activesubstances, said solid b ock being inclosed by a solid porous coverconsisting substantially of kieselguhr.

4. A radio-active mass having the form of an arbitrarily shaped solid,porous block consisting of neutral material containing incorporatedradio active substances; said pos1- connected to an the radio-activeaction of the radioactive substance inclosed between the kieselguhrthrough the layer of radiobell 11 containing in substance consisting Isolid, porous block being arranged in a reservoir having anoutlet-opening in such a manner that the block bars the outlet-openlngso as to force any fluid drawn off from the reser- I substantially ofkieselguhr containingtincorsubstances an a reservoir having anoutletbeing the outlet-openin so as to force any fluid drawn off from te reservoir through said outlet-opening to Eenetrate through the porousradio-active look.

6. A radio-active mass in the form of a porous bell-shaped bodycontaining radioactivematerial and consisting substantially ofkieselguhr; said bell-shaped radio-active body being arranged in areservoir having an outlet in such a manner that the outlet is coveredby said bell.

7. A radio-active mass having the form of an arbitrarily shaped, solidblock consisting substantially of kieselguhr containingincororatedradio-active substances, I said mass eing inc'losed by andremovably connected with a casing comparatively impermeable toemanations. In testimony whereof we have signed this specification inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

SIEGFRIED LOEWENTHALL KURT LUER.

Witnesses HENRY HAsPER, WOLDEMAR HAUPTI

